Hellobee Boards

I think it would be best to research both sides of the issue and make an informed decision. I personally try not to eat any soy because it mimics hormones and can have some devastating effects especially in boys... Just my opinion based on what I've read. But it's a personal choice as all food is. I was disappointed learning about it because I LOVE edamames too!!!

I eat edamame, but not every day or anything.

I found a cute blog post about this issue:

http://finsterspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/09/put-down-edamame.html

Since I'm at work and have millions of academic journals at my fingertips (databases), I just searched and found a few things related to soy and fertility:

From Toxicology & Applied Pharmacology; Nov2012, Vol. 264 Issue 3, p335-342, 8p

CONCLUSION:
This study shows that, under conditions of reduced glucuronidation, dietary genistein exhibits a strongly increased estrogenic effect. Because polymorphisms that reduce UGT1 expression are prevalent in the human population, these results suggest a cautionary attitude towards the consumption of large amounts of soy or soy supplements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

and this one:
Human Reproduction; Nov2008, Vol. 23 Issue 11, p2584-2584, 1p

In the multivariate-adjusted analyses, men in the highest category of soy food intake had 41 million sperm/ml less than men who did not consume soy foods (95% confidence interval = –74, –8; P, trend = 0.02). Results for individual soy isoflavones were similar to the results for soy foods and were strongest for glycitein, but did not reach statistical significance. The inverse relation between soy food intake and sperm concentration was more pronounced in the high end of the distribution (90th and 75th percentile) and among overweight or obese men. Soy food and soy isoflavone intake were unrelated to sperm motility, sperm morphology or ejaculate volume.
CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that higher intake of soy foods and soy isoflavones is associated with lower sperm concentration.

So these articles seem to be saying that LARGE quantities of soy consumption could potentially be bad for fertility.

But then I found this:

Effects of Soy Protein Consumption. (cover story) .Source:Fertility Weekly; 11/22/2010, p1-2, 2p

Abstract:The article presents a study which seeks to determine the effects of soy protein, regardless of the levels of isoflavone associated with it, to the semen quality of young men. It states that the study was conducted through a double-blind research design wherein subjects included healthy men 20-40 years of age. Results reveal that all the subjects had sufficient levels of sperm in their semen. Moreover, it asserts that isoflavone and soy protein consumption does not affect male fertility.

So...conflicting reports? but avoiding LARGE amounts should do it!

I wonder about this. I'm Vietnamese and I'm sure my mom ate a lot of soy based foods when she was pregnant with me. I'm sure many asian countries eat a lot of soy products as well.

I know it doesn't compare because my mom was not eating soy products to replace another food like dairy. So to @Mrs.Jacks point, my mom probably wasn't eating it in excess.

Need to look into the research more, though.

@esqbee: I do know that fermented soy products are really healthy: tempeh and the fermented soy sauce. But I'm actually unsure about edamame's specifically. I know the worst is soybean oil and definitely try to avoid that - which is hard because it's in everything!

I only avoid large amounts of soy (both me and DH) but small amounts are fine.
Just be careful that you don't "accidentally" eat more soy than you intend to--many protein bars are made with soy protein.